The Dukes, winners of seven Class C and four B titles in the past 35 years, added a new letter to its trophy case thanks to contagious hitting.

Marlboro, held hitless by Green Dragons pitcher Brittany Malloy for the first three innings, tied in the fourth, took the lead with a two-run fifth and broke the game open with five runs in the sixth. The Dukes finished with 10 hits.

Schoonmaker had three hits and two RBI and Amber Mianti and Melissa Sadler each had two singles and a RBI to lead the (18-3) Dukes. Taylor Felicello and Sara Cerone also drove in runs.

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Marlboro gets a first-round bye and plays in a regional final next Saturday: either against the Section 4 champion at Union-Endicott or the Section 1 titlist at North Rockland. The opponent will be determined Friday.

“We all worked very hard, so I had no doubt in my mind we would come back and fight real hard,” Schoonmaker said. “I’m so happy we pulled it out,”

Marlboro knocked off a team and pitcher that had beaten it earlier in the year in the Red Hook Tournament.

“We came back and definitely showed them we can play and we’re not some team you can mess around with,” said winning pitcher Aubrey Bianco, who held Cornwall to a run on five hits for six innings. Taylor Felicello pitched the seventh in relief.

“It’s just so amazing,” said catcher Allison Swartz. “They have a good solid team. I think, this time, we were ready for them.”

Kaitlyn Preiss, who had three of Cornwall’s six hits, tripled through a drawn in infield and shallow outfield in the first inning and scored on Jacquelyn Galati’s sacrifice fly.

Malloy retired the first nine Duke batters and Marlboro didn’t get a hit until Schoonmaker’s leadoff bunt single in the fourth. She went to second on Felicello’s bunt, third on Ashley Votta’s grounder and tied the game on an error.

“I think, honestly, we were nervous those first few innings and then we made adjustments right away,” Marlboro coach Jen Veronesi said. “(Malloy) came in on the first pitch to most of our batters, so we adjusted by moving back and turning on it.”

Sadler got things started in the fifth with a single to right and went to second on Cerone’s bunt. The Dukes then strung three hits together.

“All we needed was one person to get on base to spark our energy,” Veronesi said. “That’s exactly what happened and hits are contagious.“

“Once one person gets a hit...,” Swartz remarked. “That’s how we are. We all feed off the energy, keep going until it’s over.”

Mianti’s infield hit put runners on the corner, setting the stage for consecutive RBI singles from Schoonmaker and Felicello to put Marlboro ahead.

“After that, we all got confidence. We were backing each other up,” Schoonmaker said. “It was just perfect.”

With one out in the sixth, Swartz drew a walk and Cassie LaPointe reached on an error. Marlboro proceeded to string four hits in a row to blow the game open.

Sadler poked a single down the right field line to score one run. and that was followed by RBI singles from Cerone, Mianti and Schoonmaker. The final run scored on a wild pitch.

“Everybody can hit the ball when they need to and that’s what they did today,” Bianco noted. “We just kept hitting and kept hitting.”

“It just really all came together,” Veronesi said. “As a coach, you always prefer to it to come in the first or second to go ahead. As long as we get it done. We were putting the bat on the ball, swinging at good pitches and we were being selective.”

An error and a walk gave the Dragons hope in the seventh as Nicole Cast doubled in one run and another scored as Felicello got Samantha Nelbach to bounce back to her. When second baseman Votta caught Preiss’ humpback liner for the final out, Marlboro had its first-ever Class A championship.

“We’re really pulling together great and I hope we can continue it through regionals,” Schoonmaker said.

The Dukes reached the Class B state finals last year and a repeat run is certainly in the back of their minds. After two days off, Marlboro’s focus will all be on next Saturday’s state quarterfinal.

“It’s an amazing feeling. I can’t describe it,” Bianco said. “We worked for this, though. It wasn’t handed to us. We’re just going to take one game at a time from here”